Eutrophication poses threats to aquatic ecosystems, necessitating effective mitigation methods. This study has evaluated the efficacy of aluminium treatment in reducing eutrophication under acidic conditions in various water bodies using spectrophotometry and gravimetry. Results indicate a correlation between increased precipitation mass and reduced orthophosphate levels at higher pH. This correlation is due to pH-dependent equilibrium reactions. Acidification below pH 5.7 …
Thermally triggered motion of pyrolytic graphite on a magnet array
When hydrocarbon is heated to its decomposition temperature pyrolytic graphite can be crystalized in ordered layers. This material has an unusual characteristic. It can levitate above a chequerboard arrangement of magnets due to its diamagnetic property. We delved into the reason for this phenomenon. One question in particular interested us: can the levitation process be manipulated by applying heat or …
Valuable Products from Waste Cotton – Optimising the Pre-treatment of Cellulose Nanocrystal Production
Cellulose is the most abundant biopolymer in the world – cellulose originating from waste textiles has the potential to be recycled into valuable future applications. Cellulose nanocrystals, CNCs, are the crystalline regions of cellulose fibrils and can be separated thorough acid hydrolysis. In this study, CNCs were produced from a cotton t-shirt using a new method of hydrolysis using hydrochloric …
Identifying diet based on hair isotopic analysis: A case study of modern and archaeological humans
Quantitative information about dietary patterns of modern or archeological humans can provide insight into the lives, status or even moral principles of the individuals. This case study analysed 8 modern humans from different dietary groups and 3 archeological humans, Anna von Igelström (1732-1760), Lady of the Teller chapel (ca 19th century) and a young mummy boy (ca 350-50 BC), to …
Cooling solar panels in the Sahara with the use of hydrogel
This project is about the cooling of solar panels with hydrogel in the Sahara desert. It is already known that solar panels lose a significant fraction of their efficiency when they are exposed to high temperatures. This project did research in the effectiveness of cooling solar panels with two types of hydrogel, Potassium Polyacrylate and with Sodium Polyacrylate. This project …
NutriBean+
Grain legumes have been of great interest to the European community as they show favourable nutritional and environmental traits. These crops, thus, are key to the Farm to Fork Strategy. The Sobrero and Marconi High Schools, with the assistance of the University of Turin, have characterised four varieties of chickpeas and four of soybeans, focusing mainly on the evaluation of …
Hidden Agenda: TFA – The invisible danger in our water
The aim of our project is to survey trifluoracetate (TFA) concentrations in surface waters in the Vienna Basin for the first time in Austria and to investigate the impact of TFA on plants. Thus, it should be shown that secondary pollutants also have an environmental relevance and should be included in monitoring programmes due to their accumulation in the environment. …
Alternative production of hydrogen
Producing green hydrogen is one of the most important problems today. The main method is pure water electrolysis, which is not very profitable from a business point of view. Our project seems to solve this problem. We propose to obtain hydrogen and sodium hydroxide from the electrolysis of brine, and then to obtain hydrogen again from the hydroxide and recycled …